Druids and fighters- wildshape and all sorts of fun

[nak9788]

Warshaper?

Nature's Warrior?

I have a Druid 6/Rogue 3 and I thinking of taking Master of many forms class levels. I never heard of these other prestige classes though. What book(s) do they come from?

 

[SidusLupus]

Doh. I'm still not used to all the acronyms. I'll have to have a looksie then.

Wand of mage armor.. excellent idea. Perhaps I can con my friend into just having a mage armor ready for me every day since it lasts so long.

Nature's Warrior and War Shaper are both in Complete Warrior.

I'm curious how your druid/rogue functions. what do you do in combat? wildshape and then go for flanking to sneakattack?

 

[nak9788]

Nature's Warrior and War Shaper are both in Complete Warrior.

I'm curious how your druid/rogue functions. what do you do in combat? wildshape and then go for flanking to sneakattack?

Hey thanks Sidus.

Yes, my character does exactly that in combat. He uses his animal companion (a constrictor snake) to help with flanking. Plus if the snake happens to grapple someone, it works well to. Also, the Evasion at level 2 is very useful and since it is an extraordinary ability, he doesn't lose it while wild shaped.

Not to mention sneak attacks aren't limited to 1 per round. So as a black bear, I can do an additional 6D6 (2D6 for 3 attacks) of damage! Coupled with natural spell, I can use Produce flame giving my claw attacks an additional 1D8+5 fire damage.

Plus the extra skill points don't hurt either. It helps make my character and even more versatile party member (I did start as a rogue giving me 32 skill points at level 1!).


Hmm. SidusLupis: Latin for Star Wolf correct?

 

[SidusLupus]

yay someone who knows what it is!

yeah with a build like that you may want to pick up nature warrior 1 and pick the power which adds 3 damage to all attacks while wildshaped to make the hits count more since you're dps.

How much does your animal companion contribute as a whole? I chose to forgo one for the time being because i was being hounded for taking too long. I may change my mind on that though. Any reason why not a wolf for free trips?

Also, you may want to consider checking complete divine for some nifty druid spells, and there's a feat there specifically for sneak attacking and wildshaping but I forget what it was exactly but if I remember right it was pretty good.

Still no one on ideas about staves and material DR? =/

 

[Jdvn1]

Another note on the Draconomicon, check out the Dragon Wildshape feat......you can't take it until 12th level, but it's awesome.

... It's not that great, really. You're restricted to Small and Medium dragons, even at 20th level.

 

[Jdvn1]

I know my armor doesn't count untill i get a special ability on it which is expensive. Does however the Amulet of Natural armor count, and my ring of protection? If i went from my +1 hide armor to bracers of armor later, would they count? Also, which magic items would I gain benefits from while wildshaped?

There's actually a much cheaper special ability that lets your armor count while Wildshaped. It's in the Complete Adventurer. You don't benefit from an amulet of natural armor because like bonuses don't stack (You already have a natural armor bonus and you can't get another one. If you wear the amulet, you get the best bonus of the two but they don't add together). Bracers of armor might work, depending on what you wildshape into. The rule is that if the animal can wear it, you keep it while wildshaped. If your GM rules that a Dire Bear can wear bracers of armor, then you can use it.

Secondly: from what I can tell, bear or leopard are going to be my standard shapes while I'm wildshaping- is there something I missed that a 5th level druid could be that might be better? We're playing Ebberon, and I was going to be a Deionicys (raptor) dinosaur till I realized that it's large and I can't be one for a while.

Well, a lot of people like the bears. I think you can use a Black Bear, but I forget exactly.

Third: I looked over the wild feat selection and none of them were really good that I could tell... especially since alot of them required using two wildshapes to activate. Instead I have extra wildshape for a total of 3/day and Natural spell so I can cast spells while shaped. The spell selection I have atm is buffs for myself to improve my melee damage since my friend has the spell damage covered. Are there any feats that I should look into getting to improve my wildshaping, or compliment the combat type?

The Wild feats aren't that great. Try Weapon Focus (Claw) or something, and Combat Expertise. Then get Sense Weakness from Draconomicon. Very, very useful. Your Int is too low for Combat Expertise, so raise it when you get to 8th. Seriously.

Fourth: Armor, besides eventually getting a hold on some very expensive Iron wood armor, is Hide going to be it? Was thinking eventually the equivalent of a chain shirt made of ironwood but if there's another option I'd love to hear it.

There's the one that's cheaper than Wild that I mentioned already. Dragonhide is nice, and there are some alternatives in the Eberron book, too.

Lastly: I realized against things with material damage reduction I'm pretty much hosed.

That's why you get Sense Weakness from the Draconomicon. Very, very useful.

 

[Hypersmurf]

You don't benefit from an amulet of natural armor because like bonuses don't stack (You already have a natural armor bonus and you can't get another one. If you wear the amulet, you get the best bonus of the two but they don't add together).

Read the description of the amulet of natural armor again.

-Hyp.

 

[Jdvn1]

Oh, okay. The amulet gives an enhancement bonus to natural armor, so it does stack. The general rule applies, but the amulet doesn't do what I thought it did. You can wear the amulet if your shape allows you to.

 

[The_Furious_Puffin]

The "Best" combat form is fleshraker dinosaur at level 5 - it's absolutely nuts. (From monster manual III)

You get a pounce attack, very good physical stats, poison, a big racial bonus to hide and jump, and a 4/6 attack natural attack sequence. (Claw + poison, claw + poison, tail + poison, rake, free trip if an attack hits, free grapple if trip suceeds!).

 

[ergeheilalt]

Read the description of the amulet of natural armor again.

-Hyp.

For those the rest of the folks who didn't get this at first glance...

From the SRD:
Amulet of Natural Armor

This amulet, usually crafted from bone or beast scales, toughens the wearer’s body and flesh, giving him an enhancement bonus to his natural armor bonus of from +1 to +5, depending on the kind of amulet.

And from the DMG discription of bonuses (page 21, bottom of the left hand column):\

"Natural Armor: A natural armor bonus is the type of bonus that many monsters get because of their tough or scaly hides. An enchancement to natural armor bonus bestowed by a spell (such as Barkskin) indicated the the subject's skin has become tougher.

----

Seems they stack.

Erge